iculty Level III:Saab, the Swedish automotive company, increased its profits by 10.9% in the first quarter of this year despite of fall of 5% in group turnover.Profits after financial items rose to 2.45 bn Swedish Kronor （SK） （345 mn dollars） compared with 2.21bn Swedish Kronor in the first quarter of last year.The groups was helped by a 215 mn Swedish Kronor foreign-exchange gain on loans-compared with a gain of 30 mn Swedish Kronor a year ealier——as well as by interest earnings of 109 million Swedish Kronor - compared with 77 mn Swedish Kronor in the first quarter of last year.Operating profits were virtually unchanged at 2.13 bn Swedish Kronor compared with 2.1bn Swedish Kronor in the first quarter of last year. Saab expects to make a productivity gain this year of at least 5%.The group's liquid funds, inflated by the record profits of the past 2 years, climbed to 18.25 bn Swedish Kronor by the end of the first last year from 14.4 bn Swedish Kronor a year earlier.
